Sunday 7 October 2012

A New Family Favourite: Chicken with Soy-Lime Sauce

Long time no see! I really love writing this blog but dayum, it's hard to keep at it in any kind of consistent way. Please forgive me.

This delicious number comes from a favourite cookbook that I refer to constantly, Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.

Look there's even a stovetop burn on mine! So authentic.  

It's a great reference book - if you have an ingredient you're not sure what to do with, or if you have something like a chicken breast and are looking for some inspiration. I was actually reading another food blog, www.dinneralovestory.com, and she referred to this recipe, which I then looked up in the book. Dinner:  A Love Story is a great blog. God I spend an inordinate time on food blogs. I remember once being on a train from Ottawa to Toronto, and basically spending the entire four and a half hours consulting all my favourite food blogs. At the end of the trip, the woman sitting beside me said "You must be a chef! All you've been doing is looking at recipes and photos of food the whole train ride!" I explained I was actually just obsessed with food. I felt like I had been caught doing something a bit weird. Anyway. As I've said before on here, I'm a big fan of chicken thighs, drumsticks, or cooking up a whole chicken. And though I certainly went through a loooong phase where the only cut of chicken I ate was breast (I used to buy the big boxes of frozen ones from M & M, you know those - it was a staple during university), I'm certainly not in that phase no more. Chicken breasts can be boring, and dry, and even tasteless. But, they're healthy and easy and usually not offensive to anyone, so I pick them up from time to time.

Here are the limes I sliced thinly to put on top of the chicken. So it turns out,
limes are actually pretty gross to eat as a garnish. Pretty, yes, but inedible
and therefore not recommended.

This recipe involves dredging either a flattened chicken breast, or those thin cutlets you sometimes see them selling on their own, in some cornmeal, then a hot visit in a frying pan to brown them, and then a quick sauce made in the saute pan. It's so delicious and easy. Crunchy, super flavourful, and a little bit special, I'm gonna say.

Chicken with Soy-Lime Sauce
recipe from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything


1.5 pounds chicken cutlets             (please excuse me while I get a bit preachy re chicken:  buy good chicken. Avoid factory farmed chicken and aim for antibiotic and hormone-free. Local. Happy chickens taste better, for reals. If you use breasts, pound them until they're nice and thin. Cutlets are thin enough on their own.)
Oil, vegetable or olive is fine
1 cup cornmeal
1 minced garlic clove
4 scallions, chopped finely
1/2 cup of chicken stock
2 tbsp soy sauce
juice of 2 limes          (again, ditch the thinly sliced limes on top of the chicken due to their not actually tasting good)
a handful of chopped cilantro


Salt and pepper your chicken, and then dredge the pieces of chicken in the cornmeal. Saute over medium-high heat, making sure not to cook too many at once and crowd the pan. If you have to do more than one batch remove the first batch and keep warm on a plate in a 200 degree oven, or just tent it with tinfoil. Add more oil if you need to for the second batch. The chicken should take about 8 minutes total to cook, about equal time on both sides. The cornmeal will create a crispy crust, and get nice and browned. Once you remove the chicken, turn the heat down to medium, add a bit of oil, and saute the garlic and scallions for a minute or two. Then add the stock, soy sauce, and lime juice. Scrape up any browned bits and turn up the heat to high, letting the sauce simmer for about a minute. Serve the sauce overtop of the chicken, and sprinkle with the cilantro.  

1 comment:

  1. Hi Carly,

    I am working with Atomic Reach, a curation platform. I am reaching out to you because I think you would be a perfect fit for our new “Toronto Eats” Tribe! The Tribe will cover Toronto restaurant reviews, Toronto food events and recipes shared by Torontonians.I’ve taken a read through your blog and we think you’ve done a fantastic job covering topics that our Tribe’s members would also be interested in reading. It would be great if you could join our community.

    If you would like to learn more about this, please send an email to judy@atomicreach.com

    Kindest regards,
    Judy

    ReplyDelete